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ChickenBones:
A Journal / 2005
Arabian Drive /
Finksburg, MD 21048 -- I became
aware of Rudy Lewis’ labor of love a few short months ago during a visit
to Kalamu ya Salaam’s e-drum listserv. As soon as I saw the title
of the journal I knew it was about Black folks, and the power of the
written word. A quick click took me into a journal that’s long on
creativity, highlighting well-known, little known, and a little known
writers, and commitment to the empowerment of Black folks. I contacted
Rudy to ask if he’d consider publishing some of my work. His response
was immediate, and a couple of days after I’d forwarded some poems to
him—they were part of ChickenBones. What I didn’t know was that
this journal has been surviving for the last five years with very little
outside financial support. . . If
we want journals like this to “thrive” we need to support them with more
than our website hits, praise, and submissions for publication
consideration.

It is considered a military and
economic tactic, as much a part of the Japanese strategy in the
subjugation of China as was the deliberate bombardment of
Shanghai. It is their purpose to poison and corrupt the Chinese
farmers, the workmen, the students, so that in the future they
will be unable to resist the invader either morally or physically.

Interested in more than a career as educator
and researcher, Turner's work, curiously, as an activist, has
overshadowed his many scientific accomplishments. A member in
the founder (1909) of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Turner served as a leader
in the Baltimore and Washington branches and was president of
the NAACP Phoebus, Virginia, branch. More

A
Short History of “When the Levee Breaks”—On
Saturday [30 August 2008], a million citizens fled
Louisiana for safer ground, after Hurricane Gustav
metamorphosed into a Category 4 hurricane in a mere 24
hours. It is scheduled to slam into the U.S. almost
exactly three years after Hurricane Katrina did the
same, visiting the kind of disaster dystopia one usually
sees in film or music. . . . Louisiana authorities
explain that there will be no shelter for those left
behind or who choose to stay behind. It's a familiar
refrain for those caught up in this recurring
environmental nightmare, perhaps more familiar than you
think. "When the Levee Breaks" was first created by the
Delta bluesmen
Kansas Joe McCoy and
Memphis Minnie.
Listen to the original. Jordan Flaherty about New Orleans /
New
Orleans pre-Gustav

Missing People in New Orleans—Its
figures paint a dramatic picture of jobs and
housing decline in the central city area.
During the storm's aftermath, thousands of
residents were evacuated from the city. Two
years later, one in three households have
still not returned, and the population has
dropped from 455,000 to 274,000. Poor
households with children are particularly
likely to have stayed away, with the number
of children in public schools at only 40% of
its pre-Katrina level. To some extent,
migrants from Mexico and Central America
have replaced Afro-Americans in New Orleans,
with an estimated additional 100,000
Hispanic people in the region. They have
been attracted by some of the relatively
well-paying jobs in construction and
tourism. Looking for jobs—But
overall, the News Orleasn metro area employs
113,000 fewer people than in August 2005,
and the pace of job creation has slowed to a
crawl. The biggest declines were in tourism
jobs (down 24,500), government jobs (down
29,000) and healthcare jobs (down 23,000).
And 4,000 smaller firms closed after the
storm. "We apparently are at a place where
the post-storm employment recovery is
peaking," said demographer Elliot
Stonecipher. "Those categorical drops in
jobs paint a picture of a devastated economy
and we have to stop acting like they didn't
happen." Steve
Schifferes.Two years on, New Orleans stalls
News BBC

Democracy vs. Profit is Central Issue in Takeover of Benton Harbor, Mich. by Roger Bybee—26 April 2011— There is no place in the United States that more cruelly illustrates the intensifying conflict between corporate power and democracy than Benton Harbor, Mich., the first city to be placed under what some Michiganders call “financial martial law.” In March, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder won approval of Public Act 4 (i.e., the Emergency Manager law), which permits him to declare that a city is in fiscal crisis and then to appoint an overseer with unlimited powers including the elimination of existing union contracts. Significantly, chief sponsors of Public Act 4 were State Rep. Al Pscholka, who was a former aide to Whirlpool heir U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, and also "a former vice president for one of the major entities involved in building the luxury golf development," The Rachel Maddow Show reported last week. One of the first battlegrounds in Benton Harbor is Jean Klock Park: Will the 90-acre park continue to be a public facility on Lake Michigan for poor kids or will it be converted into the massive proposed Harbor Shores golf course, condo and marina development? Benton Harbor's population is 92% African-American and deeply impoverished by the de-industrialization of the city and surrounding area. Whirlpool’s recent plant shutdown is the most recent, crushing blow as the corporation continues to expand significantly in low-wage plants in Mexico, despite taking $19 million in federal recovery funds. Benton Harbor is plagued by the lowest per capita income in Michigan ($8,965), with 42.6 percent of the population living below the poverty line, including a majority of kids under age 18.—InTheseTimes / photo right:Mayor Dave Bing cozies up with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder

Obama Humiliates the Black Caucus—“Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,” Obama hectored. “Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We have work to do.”

Black Caucus chairman Rep. Emanuel Cleaver had earlier told reporters, “If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this [Black unemployment] problem, we probably would be marching on the White House." But Obama came to lay down the law: any marching that you might do will be for my re-election. The well-oiled crowd cheered. Los Angeles congresswoman Maxine Waters seemed to be the only Black lawmaker capable of an adult response:

“I’m not sure who the president was addressing. I found that language a bit curious. The president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus… he certainly didn’t tell them to stop complaining and he never would say that to the gay and lesbian community who really pushed him on don’t ask don’t tell or even in a speech to APEC, he would never say to the Jewish community stop complaining about Israel.”—BlackAgendaReport / Obama Loses Cool At Black Caucus Dinner

An unemployed 32-year-old black Army veteran with no
campaign funds, no signs, and no website shocked South
Carolina on Tuesday night by
winning the Democratic Senate primary to oppose Sen.
Jim DeMint (R-SC).—Who
Is Alvin Greene? Mother Jones

The people of South Carolina need someone they can
relate to. And that's me. The other guy hasn't lived the
life I lived. I'm unemployed. And so are some other
people from South Carolina. I won't forget that anytime
soon—Alvin
Greene

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson on Jena—Thus
far Republicans have been
campaigning as if all America was a
white suburb. . . . . But the
Democratic nominees should not
simply assume that they can inherit
minority votes. They have to earn
them. Standing up for justice and
against this kind of hatred is an
essential measure of leadership. . .
. Jena is a biopsy of the cancer of
the criminal justice system. . . .
The right-wing backlash is taking
away our rights, our votes – and
making a profit. . . . Jena is not
just Jena; there is a Jena
everywhere. . . . This is not the
start of a new civil rights movement
– it is an extension of it. The
battle with Jena is not over. Jena
must inspire us to go back home and
fight the criminal justice system. Nuking,
Westerns, and White Manliness